Pin type fastening device



B. M. MERCER 2,747,248

PIN TYPE FASTENING DEVICE May 29, 1956 Filed Oct. 4, 1952 INVENTOR effBY Mlle/Mr #U M ATTORNEY United States Patent O PIN TYPE FASTENINGDEVICE Bert M. Mercer, New York, N. Y. Application October 4, 1952,Serial No. 313,104

3 Claims. (Cl. 24-158) The present invention relates to fasteningdevices and more particularly to a fastening device of the nature of abuckle for securing the end of tail portion of the gauze of a catamenialbandage or sanitary napkin when in use.

Catamenial bandages are generally supported in use by a fastening deviceto which the tail of the bandage is releasably secured. The fasteningdevice is in turn usually supported by a belt or waistband whichencircles the body of the user. The fasteners are generally locatedbelow the waistband and are used in pairs, one at the front and one atthe rear of the wearers body slightly above the vicinity of the crotch.

zPresent day devices for attachment of catamenial bandages includecomplicated clamps, and in that type of devices are many which afford noassurance that the bandage will not become free and cause extremeembarrassment to vihe'user. Natural movements of the body affect thestrain and grip on the bandages, and as a result, many devices whichappear at first glance to be practical are in fact very susceptible toslipping and, release.

In order to prevent any embarrassment to .the wearer, the f asteningdevice must hold the tail of the catamenial bandage securely enough topreclude the possibility of the andage. becoming accid n allyunfastenedor released. The fastener, however, must be easy to operate, sincethefasteners, especially the one at the persons'back, are both located,when in use, where it is difiicult for the wearer to see n m n p it forsecur ng the ban ag in p ace. In addition, the back one is also somewhatdifficult for the wearer to reach. The fastener must also be readilyadjustable and safe to use so that accidental injury will not occur tothe user if a wrong move is made while securing .or adjusting the tailstherein.

Therefore, an object of my invention is to provide a buckle, forfastening the tails of a catamenial bandage, which is easy to operatewhen suspended on a belt in position on a users body.

Another object of my invention is to provide a buckle, for fastening thetails of a catamenial bandage, which has guide means to facilitate theapplication of the tail to a holding means for the tail, and to provideadditional .means to prevent said tail from becoming inadvertently p rnt to Per on v ed in he ar o which h inv i n apner ains. as -des r pt onp ceeds, h y dire t recitation thereof and by impli ation from h cntext, ar

achieved in the broad aspects of the invention by providing a bucklehaving a frame and a prong projecting inwardly of the frame'f o n oneend he eof to Pi rc n .hold the a o th banda e, and a gu rd or losuremeans adapted to b Pos tioned ransver ely o the frame at th end of theprong to overlie the prong and thereby prevent the napkin tail fromslipping off of the prong, and further by provision of catch meansassociated with; the guard to releasably retain the guard in its properposition. More specifically, the showing herein contemplates provisionof a slide as the disclosed embodiment of guard or closure means.

My invention will be best understood by reference to the followingdescription of arbitrarily selected embodiments of my invention and byreference to the accompanying drawing wherein like numerals of referenceindicate similar parts throughout the several views. In said drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a buckle made in accordance with myinvention, the view showing the end or tail of a catamenial bandageinserted in the buckle with the guard or closure means in open position;

Figure 2 is a front view of a buckle according -to my invention, showingthe guard in closed position;

Figure 3 is a horizontal cross-section taken along line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Figure 4 is a front view, partially in section on line 4--4 of Fig. 3,showing the lower part of the buckle with the guard in open position;

Figure 5 is a front view of the lower part of a buckle embodying amodification of my invention;

Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view of said modification taken alongline 6-6 of Fig. 5; and

Figure 7 is a front view of the lower part of the modified buckle,showing the guard in open position.

The buckle made according to my invention is adapted to be suspendedfrom a belt which encircles the waist of the user. The buckle iscomposed of a closed frame 10 the upper end or frame member 12 of whichis substantially horizontal in use in order to aptly support the buckleby a strap or tape 14 which hangs from the belt worn by the user. Thelower end or frame member 15 of the frame is substantially parallel tobut shorter than said upper end or frame member 12. As here shown, theside members 16 of frame 10 start perpendicularly downwardly from theupper frame member 12 and then slope inwardly to about the mid-point ofthe side members and then again downwardly parallel to join the lowerframe member 15 of the frame. Midway of the length of said lower framemember 15 is an upwardly projecting prong 18 within the frame having apointed tip at its upper end which terminates within the narrowedportion of the frame and adapted to pierce and hold the tail of thecatamenial bandage, which is fed through the wider portion of the framein the area above the prong, and subsequently forced downwardly onto theprong. The side members 16 of the frame have inward bulges 19 at aboutthe mid'length thereof at the convergence of said side members to form arestricted passage or throat 20 at least partially above the end ofprong 18, said prong terminating substantially in said throat but spacedfrom the bulges 19 of the side members 16 so as to provide a restrictedpassage at each side of the prong at its pointed end.

By virtue of the wide upper part of the frame with its sloping sidemembers spaced from the top reach, the user may easily insert the tail 21 of a catamenial bandage into the frame opening above the prong and maythen move the tail downwardly through throat 20 onto prong 18. Saidthroat 20 assures that the tail of the bandage will be bunched andproperly located as it is fed to the tip of the prong 18. The narrowlower portion of the frame requires bunching of the material of the tailinto slots 22 between the prong and frame sides, and provides frictionalpressure which aids in holding the tail on said prong. The bulges 19 ofthe frame sides forming throat .20 not only function to feed the tail tothe parallel thereto.

3 prong, but also aid in preventing inadvertent slipping of the bandagefrom the prong after being applied thereon.

In order to assure that the bandage cannot become unintentionallyreleased from the prong 18, a transverse guard or closure is provided toobstruct the upper ends of slots 22, in which the tail is located, andto constitute a cross-head for the prong. The guard, according to thepresent showing, may comprise a slide 24 retained in a channel 26 at oneside of the frame. As one practical construction for forming saidchannel 26, a lateral extension 27 is shown projecting from one of theside members 16, with the top and bottom portions of said extension bentforwardly at 28 and then toward each other to provide tabs 29 in frontof and spaced from the body of the extension in parallelism thereto. Thetop and bottom edges of slide 24 ride in contact with the forwardly bentportions 28 and the back and front faces of the slide ride in contactwith the body of the extension and the tabs respectively. The slide hasa sufficient length so that it may be slid inwardly to obstruct bothslots 22, and is arranged to be retracted to clear both of said slots.The slide is provided with a head 30 at its outward end so that when theslide is at its inward or guarding position, as shown in Fig. 3, theinwardly directed shoulder 25 on the head abuts the outward edge of thechannel-forming portions 28. The outer margin .of head 30 is shown asmaking a cylindrical curl 31 forwardly, so as not to engage against theusers body, the curl being exemplary of any desired finger-piece bywhich the slide may be manipulated. 'Preferably the slide is flat exceptfor said finger-piece, and is aptly made from a single piece of sheetmetal such as thin spring steel.

In order to releasably lock the slide 24 in its closed or guardingposition to prevent unintentional retraction thereof, and inadvertentrelease of positive retention of the bandage and possible disengagementthereof from the fastening device with resulting embarrassment to theuser, the slide or guard is provided with a spring catch or detent. Forthis purpose, a bar spring 32 extends through the channel 26 and isshown as an integral projection from the shouldered edge of the head 30and lies above the body 24a of the slide and extends substantially Saidspring has resiliency and space for movement toward and away from theupper edge of the body 24a of the slide. The construction is such thatthe spring slidably and resiliently presses against the upperchannel-forming portion'28 and exerts a depressing force with respect tothe slide body 24a so that the lower edge of said body is pressedagainst the lower channel-forming portion 28. Furthermore, said springhas an upward sloping offset 33 about midway of its length so that thespring will releasably lock against the inward end of thechannel-forming portion 28 when the slide is in guarding position. Theoffset is illustrated as one arbitrary form of detent for the slide.

The inner end of the spring 32 may be bent upwardly to form a lip orstop 34 to engage the inward end of the channel-forming portion 28 whenthe slide or guard is in its retracted or open position; Said stop 34functions to prevent the withdrawal of the guard from the channel 26. Itshould be noted, however, that the stop allows the bar to be retractedsufficiently to clear the tail-receiving slots 22, and thus avoids, whenretracted, any interference with the insertion, adjustment or removal ofthe bandage. Also it is called to attention that afore-mentioned offset33 is located to have the additional function of releasably holding theslide or guard in its retracted position by engagement of the forwardslope of the offset with the outer edge of the channelforming portion28. For assembly purposes, the spring .may be depressed sufficiently topermit stop 34 to be introduced with the body of the slide through thechan thereafter act to. hold the stop upward so it will come intoengagement with the inward edge of channel-forming portion 28 inretracted position of the slide.

A modified construction of fastening device or buckle embodying myinvention is illustrated in Figures 5, 6 and 7 of the drawing. Inasmuchas the frame construction and fixed parts thereof in the modifiedfastener are substantially identical with the first-describedconstruction, the same reference numerals and description apply thereto.The differences in the specific embodiments exist in the guardconstruction and are set forth in the following portion of thisspecification.

In said modified construction, the guard is fabricated from spring steelor other resilient wire bent to have a generally U-shaped configurationconstituting a slide 35 having substantially parallel legs 36resiliently pressing toward the channel-forming portions 28 andprojecting through channel 26. The lower one of these legs 36 traversesthe frame 10 just below the tip of prong 18, and thus when the guard isat its inward position said lower leg will obstruct slots 22 of theframe and thereby prevent a bandage tail located on the prong in usefrom slipping inadvertently off of said prong.

The wire guard of the modified construction is appropriately formed tolimit inward and outward sliding and to provide a detent or catch forreleasably holding the slide in guarding position as well as inretracted position, and also is formed to provide a finger-piece formanipulating purposes. Dealing with these features more in detail, itwill be seen from the drawing that the inner ends of the legs are bentup and down to provide protruding stops 37 which will engage against theinner edges of the channel-forming portions 28 upon retracting the slideor guard. Similarly, at the other ends of the legs, the wire is bent upand down forming shoulders 38 which will engage the outward edges of thechannel-forming portions 28 and thus limit inward sliding of the guard.The shoulders 38 are continued to form a closed loop the far side ofwhich from said shoulders is adequately distant therefrom toconveniently constitute a fingerpiece 39 for manipulation of the slide.

Approximately midway of the length of each leg there is shown a meansfor releasably locking the slide in guarding position to preventunintentional retraction thereof and inadvertent release of positiveretention of the bandage and possible disengagement thereof from thefastener with resulting embarassment to the user. Said means is shown asoffsets 40 in the Wire legs, the offset of the upper leg being upwardlyand the one of the lower leg being downwardly and each sloping so thatwith application of appropriate force to overcome the re siliency of thelegs and friction at the slope, the legs can be pressed toward eachother and the offset then passed through channel 26.

Since the offset 40 of each leg is approximately midway of the length ofthe leg, there will be for each leg a pair of leg sections ofapproximately equal length one to the other, and each of these legsections is at least as long as the channel 26 so that, in one instance,when the slide is pushed as far inward as it will go for its closed orguarding position the offset will protrude next to the inward end of thechannel, and in another instance, when the slide is retracted as far asit will go, the offset will then protrude from the outward end of thechannel. In each instance the ofiset functions as a catch or detent.Resiliency of the wire loop and legs tends to keep the legs in contactwith the respective channel-forming portions 28. While I have shownoffsets and stops as part of both legs, an offset and stop on only oneleg and not on the other may be employed if desired. In either event,the legs may be adequately swung toward each other during fabrication ofthe fastener to permit introduction of the slide into the channel.

With regard to both structures of fastening devices here in described,it will be appreciated that the invention provides a buckle for securingthe tail gauze of a catamenial bandage, said buckle having aconstruction promoting easy insertion and adjustment of the tail, andhaving a construction by which the tail is prevented by a guard fromaccidentally slipping from the buckle and yet is readily removable fromthe buckle when desired. The construction is one which adds nouncomfortable parts and one which is very readily manipulated withouthaving to be in view at the time. The buckle is effective in that thedirection of movement of the bandage tail necessary to remove the tailfrom the prong, and rendering the guard effective, is not dependent uponany gripping action of the guard upon the bandage tail and thereforeindependent of any required thickness, or restriction of thickness, ofthe tail material.

I claim:

1. A fastening device for securing the tail of a catamenial bandage,comprising a frame, 9. prong in said frame for receiving a part of saidtail thereon, a lateral extension at the side of said frame of formationconstituting a rectilinear guiding slideway, a slidable guard in saidslideway movable transversely to said prong to a position in closeproximity to said prong, and detent means for releasably retaining saidguard in said position.

2. A fastening device for securing the tail of a catamenial bandage,comprising a frame, a prong in said frame for receiving a part of saidtail thereon, a lateral extension at the side of said frame of channelformation and constituting a guiding slideway, a slidable guard in saidslideway movable transversely to said prong to a 6 position overlyingand making contact with saidprong, and detent means for releasablyretaining said guard in said position.

3. A fastening device for securing the tail of a catamenial bandage,comprising a frame, a prong in said frame for receiving a part of saidtail thereon, said frame having a fixed slideway substantially laterallyopposite the tip end of said prong, a slidable guard in said slidewaymovable transversely to said prong to a position overlying said prong,said guard being resilient and having an offset engageable at an end ofsaid slideway and resiliently depressible for unlocking said guard forretraction into said slideway and thereby adapted to function as adetent for releasably retaining said guard in said position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS249,659 Moore Nov. 15, 1881 542,624 Barnum July 16, 1895 678,668 KatZJuly 16, 1901 855,529 Raymond June 4, 1907 1,038,392 Kohn Sept. 10, 19121,106,886 Malloy Aug. 11, 1914 1,436,675 Pejchar Nov. 28, 1922 2,017,551Statter Oct. 15, 1935 2,579,694 Pari Dec. 25, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS635,533 Germany of 1936

